Wasted on healthcare

11th March 2006

In this recent publication, the Taxpayers Alliance has done an excellent job in documenting £82 billion in Government waste.

For example, did you know MEPs and their families are each allowed up to 60 sessions a year of a combination of medical massage, medical gymnastics, traction, mud baths, hydromassage and hydrotherapy and may also claim 60 sessions of electrotherapy and 30 sessions of "aerosol" and "beam" therapy, plus 80 per cent off costs of 21 days' "thermal cure" at a spa.

Naturally, the NHS national programme for IT doesn't escape the firing line. The programme will cost up to five times the previously stated cost of £6.2bn. The total bill could hit £30bn, amounting to an overspend of £2.38bn a year for 10 years.